United - Losing Two in a Row

Going to places like Stamford Bridge and Anfield tests the mettle of any side, even if the sides that call those places home haven`t been going through the best of times this season.

But you`d have hoped we`d have gotten some reward from at leas tone of those fixtures. At Stamford Bridge we could possibly call ourselves unlucky but at Anfield we were hardly at the races. Similar performances, I hope, will not be tolerated because our hopes of a record busting 19th title will go down the toilet.

It`s time to regroup, time to refocus and then push on.

Incidentally, the last time we lost two Premier League games in a row was back in 2009 when we lost against Fulham and, yes you`ve guessed it, Liverpool. Damn those scousers!

Comments

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These two losses have really highlighted our weakness to the rest of the league though. Both Chelsea and Liverpool had one thing in common when playing us, their players were incredibly mobile. With both Anderson and Fletcher opposition players will be tracked and put on pressure much more effectively but with 2 stumps in midfield, in the form of Carrick and Scholes, the midfield is easily dominated and as a result the defense also. Whilst Scholes is fine with one of, our both of Fletcher and Anderson it's not going to work with Carrick. Carrick is non existant and disappears both when attacking and defending, when we're trying to dominate possession however, you can bet your house that he's playing the backwards and sideways passes. With Carrick, Scholes and Fletcher/Anderson, Carrick is in charge of pressuring either the left or right side of a 3 man midfield which we all know he won't do meaning one flank gets dominated. Even if the midfield isn't being dominated the lack of movement when going forward cripples us, standing still playing sideways passes (Carrick!) doesn't open up space for the forwards to exploit so we inevitably end up running into a brickwall. Whilst Anderson and Fletcher may not be able to play killer passes and be that creative AM ,they do atleast move and whip in good crosses which causes the opposition issues. I'm sorry to say but whilst Carrick is a good squad player he just isn't good enough to be a starter and I supsect he wouldn't be hadn't Hargreaves, Anderson, Fletcher and Park all been injured. Whilst we're not overwhelming in midfield, the grafting enabled us to get where we are in the league now and I just hope it doesn't go to waste.